Member Article

Web platform unlocks business opportunities for region’s digital specialists

The North East’s digital community can learn more about one of the fastest growing web development platforms in the world at a special training day next month.

Sunderland based website development and technology specialists Consult and Design International are hosting an ‘Introduction to Drupal’ workshop at the Sunderland Software Centre as part of the Drupal Association’s series of Global Training Days.

Drupal is one of the fastest growing website content management platforms and can be used to build anything from the most simple of websites to complex applications with millions of users.

Drupal training days are designed to introduce new users to the Drupal platform, learn more about how the open source platform works and how an increasing number of users can collaborate to build websites via the platform.

Consult and Design is one of the UKs leading Drupal web development companies and are an official Drupal Association Supporting Partner.

The workshop, on March 14th, is open to web professionals, students and educators who are interested in learning more about Drupal, which is used to power millions of websites around the world including NASA and The White House.

By the end of the day- long event, attendees will be able to start building websites in Drupal using code and expertise shared on the platform.

Adam Hill, Consult and Design Operations Manager and Drupal trainer said: “As specialists and keen Drupal ambassadors, we are delighted to be hosting the training programme in the North East.

“The region has a thriving and innovative digital sector and with demand for Drupal skills currently outstripping supply, we see developing Drupal skills in the sector as an opportunity to open up new business opportunities for web developers and designers.”

The Drupal platform is built and used by an active community of people around the world through the open source movement, a collaborative effort whereby computer code is shared amongst users and freely available for anyone to download and develop, install, improve, test and use.

Adam said: “It is about the sharing of resources, knowledge and skills among the community in order to aid the development of secure and reliable systems. This way, clients benefit from the input of Drupal developers around the world, rather than just relying on the resources and skills of one company’s web team.

“Because of this, it is increasingly in demand from all sectors, from public sector, major international organisations down to local SMEs keen to get the most out of their websites.”

The event on the 14th March is the first of a series of events aimed at improving the knowledge of Drupal in the region.

Consult and Design are hosting an advanced Information Architecture and Drupal workshop on the 11th April for developers who have completed the introductory course or those who are already using Drupal and want to develop their skills.

Consult and Design also co-manage Drupal North East, a regional user group for developers and designers using the platform and are hosting the first ever DrupalCamp North East in July, a three day conference for Drupal enthusiasts, business leaders and developers from around the UK.

In November, the company hosted a Drupal training day in in association with Sunderland Software City. The workshop, which was part of the Drupal Academy’s Global Training day, was attended by 22 web professionals keen to explore opportunities on the platform.

Keith Bremner, Web Manager at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation attended the training as the organisation has adopted Drupal across the social research charity’s websites.

Keith said: “The Drupal Training Day provided an excellent practical introduction to Drupal and the trainers showed genuine passion and knowledge. It’s great to see that Drupal is finally getting noticed in the North East and the growing community is encouraging.”

David Dunn, Chief Executive of Sunderland Software City said: “Open source development provides a huge opportunity for software developers and aspiring software developers in the region to learn and share best practice with developers around the world.

“Consult and Design International is one of the leading Drupal developers in Europe and the fact that they recognise the potential for growing the use of Drupal in the North East is testament to the skill and drive for innovation that exists within the region.

“This is an excellent opportunity to learn about one of the most innovative and increasingly popular web platforms in the world and develop skills which will prove invaluable to individuals and the overall prosperity of software in the North East.”

To find out more about the Drupal Training Day visit www.drupaltrainingdays.co.uk/events.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Amy Watson .